


Royalty

by amaronith



Series: Pathos [1]
Category: The Phoenix Incident (2015)
Genre: Drunken hookup, Enthusiastic Consent, Feminization, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Mild D/s, Mild Humiliation, Really take them in, TPI Twitter I want you to heed the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-16
Updated: 2019-05-16
Packaged: 2020-03-06 09:46:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18848539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaronith/pseuds/amaronith
Summary: The thing about drinking with Jake, Mitch thought to himself as he watched his friend crack open another beer, was that when it was just the two of them? They had the best, weirdest conversations.





	Royalty

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing started because I just wanted to write cute drunken make-outs. Now it's. Well. This.
> 
> Shout out to my fellow TPI nerds, and to my friends Polaris and AgentBuzzkill especially.
> 
> Enjoy, everyone!
> 
> Except you, TPI Twitter. You can hit the back button.

The thing about drinking with Jake, Mitch thought to himself as he watched his friend crack open another beer, was that when it was just the two of them? They had the best, weirdest conversations.

"I'm just saying that the only reason artistic nudes are even a thing is because you painter types are all horny bastards."

Jake paused with the bottle halfway to his mouth. "The fuck? Fuck you, man, you think Van Gogh was feeling horny when he cut his ear off and ate his own paint?"

Mitch rolled his eyes. "Okay, you're being a tool - he's a bad example, besides, what with not being known for his nudes and all."

Jake picked at the label on his beer bottle, scraping at it with a thumbnail. "Besides, artistic nudity isn't - it's not about being sexy. It's not about _sex_ at all, really, it's about _pathos_."

"Do you even listen to yourself?" Mitch rolled his eyes and set Glenn's camera that he had left at Mitch's place down on the coffee table, turning it to face the couch on a whim, worried that if he fiddled with it more he might actually break the damn thing.

"You brought it up! You can just admit you don't know what pathos means, Mitch, you don't have to be an asshole."

"I know what fucking _pathos_ means, you dick. I'm just, you know, too tipsy to remember."

Jake rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Uh huh. It's _experiencing feelings_."

"And so by that definition, sex isn't pathos? Sex is one of the ultimate forms of pathos!"

"It's-ugh, listen, okay-"

"I'm listening, I've been listening!"

"- _listen_! Artistic nudity is about pathos, yeah, but it's about drawing out feelings from the person viewing the painting!"

"Yeah, sexy feelings."

"No! I mean, yeah, a little, but that's not the main point! It's not _pornography_ , man, there's deeper feelings than 'hey, that's a nice pair of tits,' or 'this guy's got a great cock'."

Mitch rolled his eyes so hard it felt like they were gonna fall out of his head. "You mean to tell me you've never been turned on once by a nude painting?"

"What, my own or someone else's?"

Mitch arched an eyebrow at that as he took a long pull of beer. "Either. Both."

Jake shrugged. "I mean, when I was a teenager, yeah, but when you're fifteen, looking at wallpaper can make your dick hard for no reason, bodies are fucking weird. But I can't say I've been turned on when doing any of my own nude pieces, no. Like, not unless that was the point of it."

Wait, what? "So you've done-"

"Erotic nude art? I mean, yeah? I only really finished one - everything else was just sketches from a life drawing class - those where all less erotic and more figure studies..."

"And you never showed us?" Mitch didn't want to think about why it stung that Jake had kept a painting back from him. Ryan, sure, but Glenn? 

Mitch?

_You're just getting tipsy and emotional, man. Grow up._

Jake flushed. "It's a personal piece…"

"They're _all_ personal pieces with you, dude."

Mitch remembered the massive art binge Jake had gone on after his mother's death - Mitch had ended up breaking into Jake's house to find him passed out on the floor half covered in paint. Glenn was halfway through calling for an ambulance when Mitch had finally woken Jake up and their friend showed them the painting - a massive mural that covered an entire wall, a riot of shapes and colors that was the end result of a three day exorcism of Jake's grief.

How was that somehow _less personal_ than some nude-y art?

"No, I mean-"

"What, did you do a sexy painting of Krissy?"

"Myself. It. Uh. It was a self-portrait kind of thing. But the arousal was part of the piece."

"Part of the _pathos_ of it?" Mitch teased - or, he tried to. His voice was low and rough, and he was trying not to think about what Jake thought counted as an 'erotic nude self-portrait'.

Jake didn't look at him. "If I tell you what I titled it, would you leave it alone?"

"I make no such promise, but tell me anyway."

"'Daydreamer'. I wanted to paint what I looked like when thinking about someone I was into."

"So, what, you painted yourself thinking about Krissy?"

"No, no, this was, uh, after the divorce…"

Mitch set his beer down. "I didn't know you were seeing anyone after the divorce."

"I wasn't. I'm not. It's just a crush. They don't like me like- anyway, whatever, not the point."

Mitch couldn't remember what his point was to begin with. Who the fuck did Jake want that didn't want him _back_? What kind of moron did that person have to be to not see what they had in front of them? "...can I see it?"

Jake shifted, looking awkward. "I, uh. It's not- why?"

"Because I'm curious."

"To see me naked with a hard on?"

Mitch shrugged. "I always like seeing your work. Unless you wanna paint me instead?"

"...naked with a hard on?"

Mitch grinned at him. "If you like. I mean, it's all _pathos_ , right?" Jake bit his lower lip nervously, and Mitch took a shot in the dark. "Unless you can think of something else you wanna do with me naked with a hard on."

If Jake said no, Mitch could laugh it off, blame the beer, and they'd never have to talk about it again.

If Jake said yes?

Well then.

"Are you even sober enough to get it up, dude?" Jake laughed, nervous and awkward.

"I can get hard enough for you to ride on, man - a couple of beers can't take me out for the night." The words were out before Mitch could stop them, a little too blatant to be played off for a laugh as some kind of 'no homo' joke.

Jake was staring at him, and Mitch was starting to wonder if he maybe had made a mistake - if that shot in the dark had missed its mark and he was about to lose one of the best friends he had ever had next to Glenn.

Jake's tongue darted out to wet his lips, and Mitch couldn't stop his eyes from tracking the movement if he wanted to. "Show me."

"My dick?"

"Yeah. Hard enough for me to ride on, you said? Prove it."

Mitch kept his eyes on Jake's as he opened his pants and pulled out his cock - he wasn't really hard yet, even with this game of gay chicken, but that was easy to fix. He licked his palm, not breaking eye contact with Jake as he took himself in hand and started stroking, hand twisting a bit at the tip the way he liked - watching as Jake's pupils got blown out wide and dark and he'd be damned if he didn't at least admit to himself that that was satisfying to see. Though it was almost a little embarrassing how fast he got hard after that, dropping his gaze to instead watch Jake from under his lashes as Jake shifted in his seat, biting at his lower lip and swallowing hard as an obvious tent began to form in his jeans.

"Like what you see?"

Jake made a strangled whimpering noise. "I-yeah. Yeah. Can I-?"

Mitch took his hand off his dick after one last squeeze. "Yeah, sure. Knock yourself out."

What Mitch had been expecting was for Jake to reach out and take over jacking him off.

What Jake ended up doing was reaching forward and lifting Mitch's shirt up, resting his other hand on Mitch's thigh as he bent forward and licked a hot line up the underside of Mitch's cock before taking him into his mouth almost down to the root in one go. 

Mitch swore, one hand grasping at the back of his couch as the other gripped at Jake's head - not to force his head down or anything, but because Mitch felt like he was gonna fly apart at the seams if he _wasn't_ touching Jake somehow, and Jake's hair wasn't really long enough to get a good grip on. "Oh _fuck_ , Jesus Christ, fuck me running, Jake, your _mouth_ -!"

Jake drew up, cheeks hollowing before pulled off Mitch's cock with a soft _pop_. "Yeah?"

"Yeah…"

"Thanks… I'm gonna-" Jake flushed, lashes lowering as he redoubled his efforts to, apparently, suck Mitch's soul out through his dick.

He wanted him to never stop, for Jake to keep going until Mitch spent himself down Jake's throat, or maybe paint a pretty picture of his own across Jake's mouth and cheeks. But he also wanted Jake to pull off, to grab the lube from Mitch's bedside table and work Jake open and fuck him through the couch cushions.

Decisions, decisions.

"J-jake… if you keep going, I'm not gonna last," Mitch hissed through his teeth. "If you wanna ride me, you need to stop-!"

Jake's tongue flexed against the underside of Mitch's cock as he lifted his head again. "You're serious?" He asked, lips slick with saliva and pre-come.

"Unless you don't want to, yeah I am."

Jake bit down gently on his lower lip. "...yeah. Sure, okay."

Mitch reached a hand up to cradle Jake's jaw, swiping his thumb over Jake's lower lip. "In the night stand is some lube, among other things. Go grab it and bring it back here."

Jake's eyes fluttered closed as he leaned into the touch, tongue darting out to catch across the pad of Mitch's thumb. "Yeah…" He swayed forward, almost as though he was going to kiss him before pulling away and standing up, staggering from the couch toward the bedroom as Mitch stripped out of his shirt and lifted his hips to shove his pants and boxers down, kicking them off and under the coffee table.

Jake let out a punched out noise as he came back in, staring at Mitch. "Shit…"

"See something you like?" Mitch grinned shifting his hips. "Come sit in Daddy's lap, Princess, I'll take you for a nice ride."

"I will walk out and leave you like this, boner or no boner, I swear to God," Jake muttered, but his face was red, and he walked closer to Mitch, setting down the lube and one of the black latex gloves from the box in his room.

"Uh huh. Of course you are." Mitch reached forward and hooked his finger through one of Jake's belt loops. "Do you actually want me to stop, or are you just protesting because you're not _supposed_ to like it?"

Jake chewed awkwardly on his lower lip, not meeting Mitch's gaze. "I don't have a daddy kink, man."

"But you do like it when I call you Princess." Jake nodded, and Mitch grinned, wondering if it looked as feral as he felt. "I wanna hear you say it, Jake."

Jake let out a soft whine. "I like it when you call me Princess…"

"Good boy." Mitch snapped on the glove and leaned back as he smeared lube over his gloved fingers. "Now, pants off and come sit down so I can get you nice and ready for me."

"Jesus," Jake whimpered, shoving down his pants and boxers in one go as he straddled Mitch's lap his cock red and leaking already. "Mitch-"

Mitch reached up, wrapping his free arm around Jake's back to pull him close and suck a dark hickey onto his throat as his gloved hand pressed against Jake's hole.

" _Fuck-!_ " Jake's voice almost rang off the ceiling with his shout, his hips jerking against Mitch's stomach. "Shit, that's cold!"

"Sorry, Princess."

"God fucking Christ-" Jake's hips were rocking as Mitch's finger pressed inside. "Mitch-"

"Hm?" Mitch hummed, mostly splitting his attention between working Jake's hole open and leaving another hickey on his throat, reveling in the little whimpers and moans he was wringing out of his friend.

"C'mon, don't- don't tease-"

"Who's teasing?" Mitch murmured against Jake's ear as he added more lube to the glove before pressing two fingers into Jake. "I gotta make sure you're nice and wet for me." Jake wrapped his arms around Mitch's shoulders, hiding his face even as Mitch could feel the heat radiating off Jake's skin. "You're gonna look so pretty on my cock, aren't you, Princess? Stretched so wide and open for me like a good boy…"

Between them, Jake's cock jerked against their bellies. "Jesus Christ, Mitch, you're killing me- _God, fuck-!_ " Jake broke off into another round of whimpering swears as Mitch pressed his fingers in as far as he could get them and spread them.

"A little death, I hope."

"God, you're the worst…"

Mitch nipped at Jake's earlobe. "That's a funny thing to say to the man with his fingers in your ass. Did you want to stop?"

" _Don't you dare stop now_ ," Jake snapped, hips pressing back onto Mitch's hand as Mitch had slowly started to remove his fingers.

Mitch sank his fingers deep into Jake before pulling them out all the way. "One more should do it, then you can bounce on my cock to your heart's content, okay?" At Jake's whine, Mitch slicked up three of his gloved fingers and pressed them inside of Jake, kissing along Jake's throat and jaw. "Good boy, you're taking my fingers so well, you're doing so good for me. Tell me why you didn't bring a condom out, too."

Jake gasped against Mitch's temple. "Wanna feel it when you come… wanna feel it dripping out of me later-!"

 _Fuck_ , that was hot.

"Did you think I was gonna fuck you and then just send you home, Princess?" He wasn't sure why it made a curl of anger twist in his gut at Jake's nod, the breathy way Jake had gasped out "yeah, yeah," as his hips rolled, but Mitch shoved it down and aside for now. "Now what kind of way would that be to treat my pretty princess, hm? Look at you, it really didn't take much to get you going at all, did it? Has it really been so long since someone was sweet to you to get into your pants? Or did you just need me to do it?"

That hadn't been what he meant to say.

"You," Jake gasped, fingers digging into Mitch's back. "You, Mitch, please, c'mon-!"

Mitch removed his fingers with a bitten off groan, peeling the glove off and flinging it towards the kitchen trash can and missing by a mile. "C'mon - get my dick wet for me."

Jake panted hotly against Mitch's temple as he reached for the lube, a little bit dripping onto Mitch's stomach as he poured some into his hand and reached between them to stroke Mitch's cock. Jake shifted his legs on the couch as he adjusted his grip on Mitch's dick, lifting himself up and then slowly easing down onto Mitch.

Mitch wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, to just feel the tight, wet heat that was Jake around his cock, but then he would've missed the near-rapturous look on Jake's face with Mitch's cock seated fully inside of him.

"That's it… look at you. I don't think I've ever seen you look so happy. Is this what you needed, Jake? A big dick inside you?"

Jake moaned, his eyes fluttering open to meet Mitch's. "Uh-uh huh…"

"How many cocks have you sat on like this?" At Jake's head shake, Mitch rocked his hips up, drawing out a shout from Jake. "I asked you a question, Princess."

"I don't-I never-" Jake broke off with a shuddering whine, blunt fingernails digging into Mitch's shoulders as Mitch gripped his hip tighter, his other hand resting on Jake's thigh.

"You never rode another man's dick like this, sweetheart? Is that what you're telling me?"

"Don't… don't usually bottom…" Jake moaned out. "Just you, only you- God, Mitch!"

"Good boy. Come on, then, Princess - ride me."

Under his palm, he felt Jake's thigh muscle tense and flex as Jake rose up on his knees, just enough that the head of Mitch's cock stayed inside him as he sank back down again, hips rolling in a slow circle as he found his rhythm. Mitch couldn't take his eyes off of Jake's face, off the fan of his eyelashes against his cheeks, off the way his mouth was still slick and red from the earlier blow job, the way his lower lip was caught in his teeth. 

How had Mitch ever willingly _stopped_ looking at Jake?

Jake found his rhythm, the slick sounds and the slap of skin against skin drowned out by a litany of moans and swears, almost in direct contrast to the way Jake sighed Mitch's name.

Mitch slid his hands up Jake's sides, lifting his shirt up. "Lift your arms for me, Princess, I wanna see you."

Jake whined, pausing his movements to lift his arms up so Mitch could tug his t-shirt up over his head and lean in to catch one of Jake's nipples in his teeth.

"Oh, _fuck_ -!"

"Yeah, that's it, there you go, beautiful…" Mitch slid his hands under Jake's thighs. "Grab on to me."

Jake wrapped his arms around Mitch's shoulders as Mitch lifted him up, grinning into Jake's throat as Jake yelped and locked his ankles behind Mitch's back. "Shit! I forget how strong you are, sometimes!"

"So I should pick you up and carry you around more?" Mitch bit down on Jake's throat, feeling the buzz of Jake's moan against his lips. "I could fuck you standing up."

Jake wrapped his arms tighter around Mitch's shoulders. "M-maybe next time…"

Next time? Mitch liked the sound of that.

(He liked the sound of Jake wanting there to _be_ a next time, that whatever was happening between them hadn't ruined anything.)

"Anything for my Princess," Mitch murmured against the mark he left on Jake's throat, even as he turned to lay Jake out on the couch - the damn thing would have to be cleaned, but Mitch really couldn't bring himself to care right now. He knelt between Jake's legs on the sofa, keeping one foot braced against the floor as he started to thrust. 

"Look at you… so pretty for me, aren't you sweetheart? My pretty little fucked out mess." Mitch wrapped his hand around Jake's cock and stroked him off-time with his thrusts as Jake moaned, trying to muffle the sounds behind his hand.

"Mitch, Mitch I'm close-!"

It took Mitch a second to realize what Jake was saying - rather, what he was _asking_ , and wasn't that a trip?

Mitch never had a partner ask for his permission to come before.

"It's okay, sweetheart. You can come." He thumbed just under the head of Jake's cock, and watched as he shook apart under him. "Beautiful," Mitch practically whispered, even as he followed Jake soon after, thrusting hard once, twice, and again before spilling deep inside of Jake.

Mitch wasn't sure how long they stayed together on the couch, just breathing heavily.

"Holy shit."

"Yeah." Mitch smirked down at him. "You look _wrecked_ , man."

"Yeah?" Jake gave him a slow, lazy smile. "Gonna show me?"

Mitch licked his lips. "...yeah. I can do that." He pulled out carefully, and it took all his willpower not to swallow the soft moan Jake let out in a kiss.

No matter what they got up to, everything would be over once Mitch let himself kiss Jake.

Mitch went to grab his Polaroid camera - a gift from Glenn for Christmas - and a warm, damp washcloth.

Jake hadn't moved from where Mitch left him on the couch, looking far too content with being covered in (and leaking) jizz.

So Mitch snapped a picture of him, resting the washcloth over his shoulder as he shook out the photo. "You look happy."

"Mm. Orgasms generally make people happy, dude, I don't know what they do in your universe."

Mitch snapped another picture. "How many of these did you want?"

Jake cracked open one eye. "One more. I think I'm gonna use 'em as a reference."

Mitch lowered the camera to blink at Jake. "For a painting?"

"Mmhmm. Already have a title for it, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yup." Jake smirked at him. "I'm thinking I'll call it 'Royalty.'"

Mitch snapped one last picture of that look before he set the camera aside and started to gently wipe Jake down with the washcloth. "You fucking _would_."

Jake looked away, not meeting Mitch's eyes. "I. Uh. I know you said you weren't just gonna kick me out, but-"

"You can stay over, man. It's late." Mitch wiped up the last of the come still leaking out of Jake's hole. "And I told you I won't treat you like that."

"You told me a lot of things, man, I figured it was, I don't fuckin' know, weird dirty talk for a one night stand."

"You don't want it to be a one night stand, though." Jake's jaw clenched as he still refused to meet Mitch's gaze, and Mitch narrowed his eyes at him. "Princess, look at me."

Jake's eyes snapped to him, looking half like Mitch had just slapped him and half like he couldn't help himself. "Mitch-"

"There's no reason we can't keep doing whatever the hell this friends with benefits arrangement thing is. So I call you Princess and you like creampies, whatever, it's no one's business but ours what we do."

Nevermind that the idea of losing whatever this thing between them was _now_ so soon after getting it made Mitch sick to his stomach.

Jake seemed to be searching his face for something before he nodded once, just barely. "...yeah. Okay."

Mitch nodded back. "Good boy." Mitch pitched the washcloth at the kitchen sink, smirking in satisfaction when in landed in the basin with a _splat_ before he held out his hand to Jake. "C'mon, let's go to bed."

Jake looked at his hand like it was gonna bite him before he grabbed it and let Mitch haul him to his feet and lead him back into the bedroom.

\--

Jake had left early that morning after snapping a few shots of Mitch in bed with the Polaroid and taking all the photos with him, leaving Mitch with a fresh hickey on the inside of his thigh and a spring in his step as he showered and got ready for the day, just barely remembering to grab Glenn's video camera on the way out the door to meet him for lunch.

"Thanks, man," Glenn said around a mouthful of fries as Mitch passed the camera over. "I was worried I left it somewhere weird."

Mitch shrugged and stole a fry off of Glenn's plate. "Don't mention it, man, it's no big."

Glenn fiddled with it, frowning. "Weird - the battery's dead. I'll have to charge it when I get it home before I can do any new tricks."

Mitch felt his blood run cold. "Yeah. Weird."

There was no way that thing had been recording the entire time last night. Mitch had turned it off before setting it down.

Hadn't he?

**Author's Note:**

> pathos doesn't seem like a real word anymore, so of course that's what I titled the series.


End file.
